//Late 19th century
  • The 103rd Bon Bock Dinner Invitation

    Artist: François Avenet a.k.a. Alexandre Ferdinandus (French, 1850 – 1888).

    Bismarck à Alphonse

    Alphonse, cher poissure! Roi pschutt du monde u’lan! Je te fais Colonel des pillards de pendules! Si cela fait rager le Bon-Bock et les Jules Tant mieux! Mais garde bien to Trône Basque-Uhlan. O. Pradels.

    Cher monsieur, Le 103ème Dîner du Bon-Bock aura lieu mardi prochain / à 7h précises aux Vendanges de Bourgognel / 14, rue Jessaint (place de la Chapelle). Si vous nous faites le plaisir d’y assister : Veuillez écrire à Mr. E. Bellot, / 37 rue St Marc, au plus tard lundi soir. Votre réponse / est absolument obligatoire pour faire mettre votre couvert (nos camarades des théâtres exceptés.) L’affirmative entraine le paiement de la cotisation présence ou absence. / Programme de notre dernière soirée. 1e H Covin (piano) une valse de sa compo- / sition. 2e de Courment : Le Chanteur du roi (1ère série) par l’auteur. / 3e Dulin de l’o.p.e. Rondeau de la petite mariée 4e Doublemard : / souvenir de la Plage La baigneuse 5e "la famille des Saltimbanque" / 6e C. Maubant Romance de la Traviata. 7e Ct. Carjat Toast à l’Alsace-/Lorraine vers par l’auteur. 8e Guillabert de l’ap. de Nantes : le Pressoir mud. de / Faure . 9e Ch. Delacour : le Poete, Sonnet. 10e if. le Duc Jean if. 11e / Fromentin. Panurge (Mus. d’Hervé) 13e A. Claris la Haine vers par l’aut. / Benty : mon p’tit neveu : paroles d’Po Clouvier. mus. de Darcier. 15e Charles / Delacour : la leçon d’Arithmétique. 16e J.B. Collegnon Fanchette, romance/ par l’auteur. 17e Doublemard : le Cocher (monologue de P. Marzin) 18e / Dulin : le Cor musique de Flégier. 19e J. M. Collignon : Elle s’appela/ Marguerite par. De L. Baillet mus de Collignon. 20e L. Bellot / annonce de l’exposition des arts incohérents sous la direction de / Jules Féry. Tous nos remerciements à Mr. Henri Covin qui a tenu le/ piano toute la soirée et a nos Camarades Ferdinandus pour son / croquis qui est absolument v’lan et à O. Pradels pour son quatrain/ des plus pachutt. // Recevez, cher Monsieur, nos salutations bien Cordiale / E. Bellot, G durater E. Cottin, R. Géner, L. Bocilart, H. Héger comba / assistaient au Dernier Dîner Mrs : Henner, Jean Brenner, Et. Carjat / Margue, Dulin, Fromentin, H. Stéger, A . Stéger, eh. Delacour, G. Mayer, Sanzel/ Denis Poulot, Bricaire, Doublemard, Vigneron, T. Boulart, L. Mayeur, Mayeur/ flle, Magnan, E. Maubant, Guillabert, H. Corin. ___ Lebreton, Tucy, Blangarnon. / Comt. Vallée, Dr Pourbain, Latapie, E. Colleville, Roumier, Hoffer, Ollivier / Verchère, Delhaye, Dr Deschamps, Ch. Hofer, Dr Geneirp, Péginissel p, et F. , Pierson, Guérin, Cronnot, de Courmont, Eliot, Fasquelle et filsm Malasamy, Guillaume fils /G Caux, Dabert, Michel p, et f.s, ___Rey. Vaundremer, Girau, general Lipovvski, Ballin, Ersetemenn, Délivré, Lepéné, de Bouillanne, V. Roser, Delbroueth. Pasquet, Treterre, / A. Claris, Thoniel, du Castaings, Pingray, Benjamin, I. Petit, Champon, Destape, Viotlat, F. Percheron, Dr Hubert, A. Aubin, Zimmermann, Vannes, A. Heulard, / Gourlet, Coppin, Hubner, laprandie, Samuel, Séguin, Ménard, Cougoul, J. B. Collignon, Beri L. Besnier, Gillandi. // 9e Année 103e Diner du Bon-Bock (Les 2e Mardi de Chaque Mois). Cotisation 5h50 / Cette invitation est strictement personnelle / Paris 3 8bre 83.
    Bismarck to Alphonse Alphonse, dear annoyance! King shushh from the Uh'lan world I name you Colonel of the looters of pendulums! If this makes the Bon-Bock and Jules angry All the better! But protect your Basque-Uhlan throne well. O. Pradels.
    Dear sir, The 103rd Dinner of the Bon-Bock will take place next Tuesday at 7 pm precisely at the Grape Harvest of Bourgognel, 14, Jessaint street (la Chapelle plaza). If you would do us the honour of coming: Please write to Mr E. Bellot, 37 St Marc street, on Monday night at the latest. Your answer is absolutely mandatory to prepare the place settings (our friends from the theatres excluded.) The 'yes' comes with a payment of the due whether or not you end up attending. Program for our last evening. 1st – H. Covin (piano) a waltz composed by him. 2nd – Courment: Le Chanteur du roi (King's singer) (1st series) by the author. 3rd – Dulin: Rondeau from opera "Le petite mariée" (The Little Bride) 4th – Doublemard: Memory of the bather's beach 5th – "The Saltimbanque family" 6th – Maubant: Romance of "La Traviata". 7th – Étienne Carjat Toast to the Alsace-Lorraine, verses by the author. 8th – Guillabert from the opera "Nantes: le Press mud" by Fauré. 9th – Charles Delacour: the Poet, Sonnet. 10th – "Duke Jean" 11th – Fromentin. Panurge (Mus. of Hervé) 13th – A. Claris "The Hatred" verses by the author, Benty: my lil’ nephew: lyrics by Clouvier, music by Darcier. 15th – Charles Delacour: the lesson in arithmetic. 16th – J.-B.Collegnon, "Fanchette", romance by the author. 17th – Doublemard: the Coach driver (monologue by P. Marzin). 18th – Dulin: the horn music by Flégier. 19th – J.-B. Collignon: "Her name was Marguerite", lyrics by L. Baillet music by Collignon. 20th  – L. Bellot, an announcement from the incoherent arts exhibition curated by Jules Férry. All of our thanks to Mr Henri Covin who played the piano all night and to our Friends Ferdinandus for his sketch that is absolutely bam and to O. Pradels for his quatrain among the most pazazz worthy. We send you our most cordial salutation, Monsieur. E. Bellot, G. Durater, E. Cottin, R. Géner, L. Bocilart, H. Héger, Henner, Jean Brenner, Et. Carjat, Margue, Dulin, Fromentin, H. Stéger, A . Stéger, Ch. Delacour, G. Mayer, Sanzel, Denis Poulot, Bricaire, Doublemard, Vigneron, T. Boulart, L. Mayeur, Mayeur daugter, Magnan, E. Maubant, Guillabert, H. Corin. Lebreton, Tucy, Blangarnon. Comt. Vallée, Dr Pourbain, Latapie, E. Colleville, Roumier, Hoffer, Ollivier, Verchère, Delhaye, Dr. Deschamps, Ch. Hofer, Dr. Geneirp, Péginissel père et fils, Pierson, Guérin, Cronnot, de Courmont, Eliot, Fasquelle et fils Malasamy, Guillaume fils, G. Caux, Dabert, Michel père et fils,  Rey. Vaundremer, Girau, General Lipovvski, Ballin, Ersetemenn, Délivré, Lepéné, de Bouillanne, V. Roser, Delbroueth, Pasquet, Treterre, A. Claris, Thoniel, du Castaings, Pingray, Benjamin, J. Petit, Champon, Destape, Viotlat, F. Percheron, Dr. Hubert, A. Aubin, Zimmermann, Vannes, A. Heulard, Gourlet, Coppin, Hubner, Laprandie, Samuel, Séguin, Ménard, Cougoul, J. B. Collignon, Berti, Besnier, Gillandi. 9th Year 103rd Dinner of the Bon-Bock (The 2nd Tuesdays of Each Month). Due 5:50 pm. This invitation is strictly personal. Paris 3 October 1883. Bismarck hands a certificate for the title of colonel along with a lance, an Uhlan helmet (Polish cavalry) and a sword to a joker. The joker wears a traditional Polish folk hat inscribed with 'XIV' and holds a guitar. ______ Comments: Émile Bellot [L. Bellot] (French, the second half of the 19th century) – engraver, model for a painting by Édouard Manet "Le bon bock", the founder of Le Bon Bock Dinner. Covin, Henri (French, 1845 – 1887) – Musician, arranger. Étienne Carjat (French, 1828 – 1906) – Journalist, caricaturist and photographer. Charles Delacour (French, 18.. – 1898) – Composer. Jean-Baptiste Collignon (French, 18..-1906) – Composer. Ange Flégier (French, 1846 – 1927) – Composer. Joseph Darcier (French, 1819 – 1883) – Composer, singer and actor. Le petite mariée (The Little Bride) – a three-act opéra-bouffe, music by Charles Lecocq, libretto by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo. La plage de la Baigneuse – beach of Saint Jean de Monts in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. La Famille du Saltimbanque: L'Enfant Blessé – The Family of Street Acrobats: the Injured Child – painting by Gustave Doré (French, 1832 – 1883) produced in 1873. Henri-Polydore Maubant (1821-1902) – actor, vocalist (baritone) Gabriel Urbain Fauré (French, 1845 – 1924) – French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. Hervé [Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger] (French, 1825 – 1892) – French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, inventor of the genre of operetta in Paris.  
  • Pictorial title (coloured): Collection Artistique Guillaume et Cie |—| ALPHONSE DAUDET  | Trente ans | de Paris | PARIS | C. MARPON ET E. FLAMMARION | 26, RUE RACINE, 26 | 1888 || Title page: Collection Artistique Guillaume et Cie |—| ALPHONSE DAUDET | Trente ans de Paris | À TRAVERS MA VIE ET MES LIVRES | Illustré | PAR BIELER, MONTÉGUT, MYRBACH, PICARD ET ROSSI | Gravure de Guillaume Frères et Cie | PARIS | C. MARPON ET E. FLAMMARION | 26, RUE RACINE, 26 | 1888 | Tous droits réservés. || Pagination: [12] [1] 2-344 [6], total 362 pp., in-text illustration, head- and tailpieces, photomechanical reproductions. Collation: 12mo; π6, 1-2812 +1; total 181 leaves. Binding: 19 x 12.5 cm; red cloth, gilt lettering to spine, gilt lettering and vignette to front board and gilt device to back board; bookplate to front pastedown: Ex Libris Dr. Vodoz = Egg; Gift inscription to flyleaf in German, dated 30/12/87. Contributors: Alphonse Daudet (French, 1840 – 1897) – author. Ernest Biéler (Swiss, 1863 – 1948) – artist. Louis Montégut (French, 1855 – 1906) – artist. Felician Myrbach (Austrian, 1853 – 1940) – artist. Georges Picard (French, 1857 – 1943) – artist. Luigi Rossi (Swiss, 1853 – 1923) – artist. Ernest Flammarion (French, 1846 – 1936) – publisher. Charles Marpon (French, 1838 – 1890) – publisher. Alexis Lahure (French, 1849 – 1928) – printer. Guillaume Frères et Cie – engravers.
  • Title: THE LIFE OF LOUIS ADOLPHE THIERS | BY | FRANCOIS Le GOFF | DOCTEUR-ÈS-LETTRES | TRANSLATED FROM THE UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT | BY | THEODORE STANTON, A. M. | {motto: Patriam dilexit, veritatem coluit.} | NEW YORK | G. P Putnam's Sons, 1879 | 182 FIFTH AVENUE | 1879 || Pagination: 2 blank leaves, frontis.: portrait of A. Thiers engraved on wood by J.I. Pease w/ tissue guard, [2] fac-simile of Thiers’s handwriting / blank, [2] - t.p. / copyright, [2] – dedication / blank, [2] – translators note / blank, [2] contents / blank, [vii] viii-xi [xii], [1] 2-353 [354 blank], [4] advert., 2 blank leaves; ill.: frontis., 1 woodcut plate, 1 folding manuscript fac-simile. Binding: dark-green cloth with bevelled margins, a gilt fac-simile of Thiers’s handwriting to front board, gilt lettering to spine. Note: The motto on the title page (Patriam dilexit, veritatem coluit) is taken from A. Thiers tomb on Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris: "He cherished his homeland and worshipped the truth".  
  • Artist: Utagawa Fusatane [歌川 房種] (Japanese, fl. 1854 – 1889), other names: Ippyosai; Isshosai; Murai Seima; Utagawa Seimas; Osai; Signed: Ōsai Fusatane Hitsu [桜斎房種筆] in a cartouche, with a round stamp. Block carver: Watanabe Yatarō (Japanese, 1850 – 1913); seal [彫弥太] – Hori Yata (Friese 2009b: 117). Publisher [板元] (Hammoto): Satō Ise [佐藤いせ], address: Horiechō, Nichōme, ichi-banchi [堀江町二丁目一番地] Publication date [御届] (otodoke): Meiji 10th year, 3rd month, 22nd day (1877). Artist [画工] (Gakō): Murai Seima [村井 静馬], address: Honjo-Sotodechō, 18 [本所外手丁十八番地]. Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 236 x 297 mm, depicting two harlots or courtesans playing [娼妓あそび] (shōgi asobi) go game in the famous Kinpeiro [金瓶楼内] brothel in New Yoshiwara in Tokyo. In the courtesan's name, the second character seems to be 紫 (Murasaki); the first character is unclear, so we do not know her name yet.
  • Front wrapper: PARIS SOUS NAPOLÉON III | Mémoires d'un homme du monde | DE 1857 À 1870 | PAR LE COMTE DE ARTHUR GRANDEFFE | {publisher’s device} | PARIS: IMPRIMERIE ET LIBRAIRIE CENTRALES DES CHEMINS DE FER | A. CHAIX ET Cie | RUE BERGÈRE 20, PRÈS DU BOULEVARD MONTMARTRE | 1879 || Similar lettering to t.p. Softcover 18.5 x 12 cm, publisher’s original blue wrappers, first and last leaves glued to wrappers, unevenly trimmed, some uncut, pagination [4] [i] ii-vi, [1] 2-413 [414], authors advert to back wrapper; mispaginated pp. 136-141; collation: 18mo, π6, 1-2218 236. Sticker with gilt lettering to front wrapper “LIBRAIRIE CENTRALE | BERTRAND & QUEYROT | MENTON”; sticker to spine "577".  
  • 26 issues of American political humourous magazine published by Joseph Keppler (Austrian-American, 1838 – 1894) and Adolph Schwarzmann (German-American, 1838 – 1904) with caricatures by Frederick Burr Opper (American, 1857 – 1937); 35 x 27 cm, bound in faux shagreen with half green buckram backing, gilt vignette and lettering to front board: ‘What fools these Mortals be!” | MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM | PUCK ||
  • An album of the "Le Bon-Bock" dinners for the year 1884. Author, designer and publisher – Emile Bellot (French, 1831 – 1886), a Parisian artist and engraver. "Le Bon-Bock" was a monthly dinner of artists and men of letters, who gathered in Paris for good food, good company, and artistic performances, from 1875 to at least 1925. The story behind these gatherings as told by Emile Bellot, the founder, is this:
    In February 1875, Pierre Cottin1 came to me and said: 'I discovered a poet and tragedian of immense talent and who interprets the poems of the Great Victor Hugo in an astonishing way. Monsieur Gambini. I promised him that I would make it heard by an audience of artists and men of letters. I am counting on you who have many connections to keep my promise to him'. I gathered about 25 of my friends and acquaintances in a picnic dinner which took place at a restaurant 'Krauteimer' on the rue Rochechouart in Montmartre. They heard from Mr Gambini first, then my friends Étienne Carjat2, J. Gros3, Adrien Dézamy4, etc. performed. These gentlemen completed the evening so brilliantly that it was unanimously decided that we would start a similar dinner every month. Poets, musicians, men of letters, singers would be invited to this dinner. I was in charge of the organization of this little party and as it was the dream of my life to bring together old comrades, I was careful not to refuse and I pursued this good idea. Cottin and René Tener5 were kind enough to help me in this joyous task and especially my old friend Carjat. The following March began our 1st monthly dinner.
    The name "Le Bon-Bock" means "The Good Bock", whilst Bock is a kind of beer, a dark, malty, lightly hopped ale. The dinner was named "Le Bon-Bock" in honour of the Éduard Manet painting (1873), a famous portrait of Emile Bellot, called "Le Bon-Bock". The invitations to the dinner were also produced by the artists and looked like this one by Alexandre Ferdinandus (October 3, 1883). Ferdinandus (attrib.), 1870   Besides this sketch of the Parisian social and artistic life at the end of the 19th century, the provenance of the album in our collection generates additional interest. The ink stamp to the front flyleaf reads: "Docteur Henry Uzan, 29 Avenue Perrichont, Paris XVI". Doctor Henry Uzan was Jewish. He was arrested by the Pétain police on October 1, 1941, and interned in Drancy. With the few means at his disposal, he undertook to treat the sick whom he then saw leaving, week after week, towards their terrible destiny in the extermination camps. In October 1943 doctor Uzan was deported to the island of Alderney. After the Normandy Landing of June 6, 1944, Nazis evacuated the island detainees and transfer them to the Neuengamme camp, via northern France and Belgium. During the transfer, doctor Uzan managed to escape from the train on the night of September 3 to 4 around Dixmude in Flanders. He was taken in by the Belgian Resistance, which he joined before being repatriated to France. In France, he continued working as a physician and was one of the founders of Association des internés et déportés politiques (AIDP). In 1945, together with his friends, the doctor designed the symbol for the Fédération nationale des déportés et internés résistants et patriotes: The story behind the number on the emblem (178284) is fascinating but it is out of the scope of this material.
    1. Pierre Cottin (French, 1823 – c. 1887) – Engraver, mezzotinter, genre and landscape painter; born in Chappelle-Saint-Denis (near Paris), a pupil of Jazet. Exhibited at the Salon from 1845, also in London from 1876 to 1879. 2. Étienne Carjat (French, 1828 – 1906) – Journalist, caricaturist and photographer. 3. Jean Baptiste Louis Gros (French, 1793 – 1870) – Painter. 4. Adrien Dézamy (French, 1844 – 1891) – Writer, poet, general secretary of the Théâtre des Bouffes in Paris. 5. Rene Tener (French, 1846 – 1925) – Painter. Sources: 

    Le chercheur indépendant

    Auguste Lepage. Les dîners artistiques et littéraires de Paris / Bibliothèque des Deux mondes (2e éd.) – Paris: Frinzine, Klein et Cie., 1884. [Accession № LIB-2606.2021 in this collection]

    Le matricule 178284, un emblème de solidarité.

  • Title page: CATALOGUE | DES | OUVRAGES, ÉCRITS | ET DESSINS | DE TOUTE NATURE | POURSUIVIS, SUPPRIMÉS OU CONDAMNÉS | DEPUIS LE 21 OCTOBRE 1814 JUSQU'AU 31 JUILLET 1877 | Edition entièrement nouvelle, considérablement augmentée | SUIVIE DE LA TABLE DES NOMS D’AUTEURS ET D’ÉDITEURS | ET ACCOMPAGNÉE DE NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES ET ANALYTIQUES | PAR | FERNAND DRUJON | {publisher’s device} | PARIS | LIBRAIRIE ANCIENNE ET MODERNE | ÉDOUARD ROUVEYRE | 1, RUE DES SAINTS-PÈRES, 1 | 1879 || Pagination: [2] [i-v] vi-xxxvii [xxxviii blank] [1] 2-430 [2] 1-16, total number of pages 2+38+430+2+16=488. Collation: 8vo; π4 i-ii8 1-258 26-294 ω8, total number of leaves 4+(2x8)+(25x8)+(4x4)+8=244; 2 binder’s blank leaves before the front wrapper, 2 blanks after the wrapper, blank / avis important, h.t. with gift inscription from publisher to Anger / limitation, t.p. / blank, [text], 17 leaves of advert., 2 blanks before back wrapper, 1 binder’s blank after. Binding: 28.3 x 19 cm, tree-quarter beige buckram over marbled boards, spine: brown leather label with gilt double fillet top and bottom, gilt lettering, stamped in gilt with a lily and a year of publishing, gilt double-fillet to tail; publisher’s wrappers bound in. Bookplate with motto “AGE DICANT” to front pastedown. Gift inscription: "À mon ami Anger | Hommage de me bien dévoué | Édouard Rouveyre". Possibly Pierre Anger (1854-19..).
    Edition: 1st edition, this copy is from an unnumbered print run. Despite the note "Edition entièrement nouvelle, considérablement augmentée" this is obviously the 1st edition.
    Contributors: Drujon, Fernand (French, 1845 – 1912) Rouveyre, Édouard (French, 1849 – 1930)
  • Title: FLATLAND | A Romance of Many Dimensions | With Illustrations | by the Author, A SQUARE | “fie, fie, how franticly I square may talk!” | NEW AND REVISED EDITION | LONDON | SEELEY & Co., 46, 47 & 48, ESSEX STREET, STRAND | (Late of 54 Fleet Street) | 1884 || Pagination: 2 blank leaves, [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / imprint., [2] – dedication / blank, [ix] x-xvi, [1, 2] f.t. / blank, [3] 4-102, 2 blank leaves; in-text woodcuts. Collation: [A]8 B-H8. Binding: original wrappers in pictorial parchment jacket, printed on laid paper, lower and lateral margins untrimmed. Note: This is the 2nd edition published the same year as the 1st, revised, as stated. I did not compare the two, neither I am planning to acquire the first 1st edition in a foreseeable future. This is a lifetime edition, handled by the Author himself, and that's enough for me to be quite happy.
  • Artist: Toyohara Chikanobu [豊原周延] (Japanese, 1838 – 1912) Signed: Chikanobu hitsu [周延筆] Publisher: [ 東京掘江町] Tokyo Horiemachi | [えん市製] Enshi-sei. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 192 x 172 mm. Possibly Iwai Kumesaburō IV [岩井粂三郎] (1856 – 1886) a.k.a. Iwai Hisajirō III [岩井久次郎] in the role of Ono no Komachi [小野乃小町] and Nakamura Shikan IV [中村芝翫] in the role of Kisen Hōshi [喜せん法師]. Play: The Six Immortal Poets in Colorful Guises [六歌仙体綵] (Rokkasen Sugata no irodori). Inscription: Left: Kisen [喜せん] | Shikan [芝翫]  Right: Komachi [小町] | Kumesaburō [粂三郎]. Actors: Iwai Kumesaburō IV [岩井粂三郎] (1856 – 1886) a.k.a. Iwai Hisajirō III [岩井久次郎]. Nakamura Shikan IV [中村芝翫] (Japanese, 1831 –  1899); other names: Nakamura Fukusuke I [中村福助], Nakamura Masanosuke I, Nakamura Komasaburō, Nakamura Tamatarō I.